The Dark Souls Post

A couple of nights ago, I beat Vordt of the Voreal Valley, my first real boss in any From Software game. I’d played around with Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Demon Souls before, but it was a game that I could never get to click with me.  It wasn’t the difficulty, either, because Dark Souls isn’t exactly “difficult” so much as it is “challenging,” a phrase I stole from a student of mine.  No, I never really got into them because they were so slow, at least compared to other games in the genre that I like.  Well, except for Bloodborne.  I just didn’t have any money when it came out, and when I did, I bought Witcher III.  I stand by that decision.

Dark Souls 3 is where the series finally came together for me.  The “why” it all finally fell into place was actually somewhat surprising, until I sat down and thought about it, because I expected it to be when the series finally sped up to pretty much any other action RPG speeds.  Yes, while it is faster than the previous games in the series, it’s not Bloodborne or the Witcher III, and considering I’m still a Devil May Cry 3/4 man at heart, it’s still a bit paced and methodical for my blood.  Still, it was fast enough for my desires, but that wasn’t what is keeping me going.  I thought it was a smoother difficulty transition, which is a thing, there are fewer spikes here and the first boss isn’t on a damn parapet like the Taurus Demon in the first game, but that wasn’t it either.  I think, for the first time, Dark Souls has given me a world I really want to explore, to see.

This is what sold me. Image copyright From Software

To be fair, a lot of those factors I’ve mentioned have helped me stay more invested in this game than any others in the series, it’s the fact that I’m (probably) going to fight shit like that giant dude in the picture that’s keeping me playing.  That first boss against Vordt was amazing.  Some big ass bull-knight-demon thing with ice powers charging me with a giant mace, and my fight or flight reflexes kicked in and I charged right into the breach.  It was…something I haven’t had a chance to do in a long time.

I play a lot of World of Warcraft.  It’s not the greatest game, but it indulges me in the one thing I don’t really get a chance to, and that’s the ability to roleplay.  I’ve mentioned this several times before, so I’m not going to rehash it, but I love the game because it gives me the opportunity I don’t have when my friends and I get together to play D&D or other table top RPGs.  Yet, there’s always been something lacking from the game since I can’t go out and murder the big bad guys on my own, while it’s expected in Dark Souls.

Can’t fight this guy on your own.  Image copyright Wowhead and Blizzard Entertainment

That guy is Kazzak, he’s a world boss, and he takes at least 20 dudes to fight.  The dude above him, is Yhorm, the Giant (no spoilers, he’s in the opening cutscene) and I’m pretty sure I have to fight him by myself.  I don’t know if I do or not, but the dude is a literal giant.  It’s in his name.  I have to fight him on my own.  Holy shit, that’s metal as Hell.  It might rank among the most metal things I will ever do in a video game.

I really don’t know why it’s taken this long to get me into Dark Souls, since there are tons and tons of bad ass things to kill in the previous two games, but it’s all come together, and I think I finally get it.  It’s not Diablo, it’s not World of Warcraft, it’s not even the Witcher or Zelda or the true heir to Castlevania (although…), it’s its own thing in a way I never expected, and I think that’s why it gets all the praise it does.  There’s a lot of derivative stuff today, not just in video games, but in art in general.  Dark Souls is, legitimately, its own thing, regardless of trends or expectations.

In a world where Activision can pump out a new Call of Duty every year, using the same engine from over a decade ago, and Ubisoft pushes out a game that’s the same no matter what, it’s nice to have something, ALMOST ANYTHING, that is actually its own game, with its own visual style, its own distinctive gameplay.  There are definitely games I like a lot more, and I don’t know if it’s ever going to be on my list of top games ever, but I’m glad I’m finally experiencing it.

Game Anatomy: Z-Targeting

Image copyright Nintendo

There’s a lot to be said about the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and that could probably fill a multi-article project, but there’s one thing that it did that completely made the game as playable as it is, and that’s Z-Targeting.  See, today, 18 years after Ocarina of Time had been released, a lot of the mechanics for Z-Targeting are taken entirely for granted, and kind of seem like a “no-shit” solution, but back in the early days of 3D, it almost seemed like an insurmountable problem.  There were targeting systems in place, but a lot of them didn’t seem to take into account the camera and the ones that did didn’t really make it work within the entire spectrum of  gameplay, so it really wasn’t an intuitive solution it seems to be in retrospect.

So, Ocarina of Time shows up and it gives us Z-Targeting, and lock-on mechanics are basically fixed forever.  I mean, kind of.  I’m not too sure of the history if anyone else was working on something similar, or of anyone else got anything up and running around the same time, and while Ocarina of Time’s isn’t perfect (and really, it’s seen iterative improvements in every 3D Zelda title up through Skyward Sword), it was definitely the best in the world at the time, so everyone decided to build on it.  It’s literally among one of the most revolutionary and important mechanics in gaming, but that’s not why we’re here.

What also made Z-Targeting work was that it basically made the game what it was.  Zelda has attempted to utilize something of a Z-Axis since the first Zelda title, and they’ve done so in their 2D Zeldas to mixed success, Link Between Worlds probably being the best example.  Nintendo built all of Ocarina of Time around the Z-Targeting mechanic.  It looks like the entire game, from the ground up, is designed to work around Z-Targeting.  It does this in a few ways, most of the involving combat, but some of it involves exploration as well.

First, all of combat is built around Z-Targeting.  It’s why almost every fight is one-on-one or two-on-one.  Yes, I know there are exceptions, but since the mechanic is entirely about locking onto a single enemy and focusing on them, and concepts like splash damage and cleaves were still being worked out, it makes sense.  Imagine trying to fight off six or seven Stalfos at once.  In a post-Wind Waker world, we can do that, but this is a game where all the dodges are manual and based on player eyesight, so the game’s combat has to be pared down.  This doesn’t mean that the game isn’t without it’s epic confrontations, however.  Sure, there are a lot of enemies that are hurry up and wait kind of bad guys, but that’s not really a bad thing in this kind of game.  It doesn’t have the tension of, say, Dark Souls, but the idea behind this is to make the fights more like an intense sword duel.  It works, sometimes, and does a good job of making the combat feel less like a chore and more like something that’s fun.

Where it really comes together, though, is in exploration.  See, one of the issues with 3D environments is that it’s hard to see, and camera controls, especially in the late 90s, were still an evolving concept.  The Dual Shock controller just came out, and wouldn’t see the light of day while Ocarina of Time was in development, so Nintendo had to come up with something to make it possible for Link to find what was needed.  Not everything that should be Z-Targeted is (nor is it still), but a lot of things are, and using Navi was a genius move of making sure the player could find what they needed, whether it was a person to talk to, or a solution to the puzzle.

See, Z-Targeting does two things: lock on to the enemy, and snap the camera to an optimal (most of the time) angle in order to allow the player to see what Link is seeing.  First, this does a great job of stealth immersion, especially since it’s Navi, an in game character, telling you the player and Link the character, what to do or how to do it.  More importantly, though, what it does is allow the camera to work without getting in the player’s way.  Even now, the ability to “snap-back” the camera behind the PC is an entirely understated boon, and is often overlooked in just how important that is.  The camera can easily get in the way, and the environment can often obscure what needs to be seen.  Allowing the camera itself to lock onto what’s important, or at least instantly get back to a default view extremely important and does a great job of conveying good information to the player, allowing them to make good decisions.

Now, Z-Targeting isn’t, and still isn’t, perfect.  However, without it, it would be extremely easy to get lost, maneuver around enemies, or solve puzzles.  It makes the game what it is, and without it, I think Ocarina of Time may have been a much poorer game, and I think 3D would have had a much more difficult transition to what it is today.

Game Anatomy: Specailizations

I’ve played a lot of World of Warcraft in the past six years.  I mean, a lot.  In an hour to hour basis, I’ve probably played World of Warcraft more than any other game, ever.  It’s not my favorite game, by any means, it wouldn’t even break the top 20.  It’s not exactly a game that would show up in these articles.  Not to say that it’s a bad game, because like all Blizzard games, it’s quite good, but it doesn’t have anything that really stands out or makes it work that is specifically related to it.  An argument can be made for raids, I could do a whole article on Siege of Orgrimmar alone, but raids are more of a genre thing than a specific game thing, and I’m starting to think that maybe raids have long since exceeded the grasp of the game.  However, there is one thing that really makes World of Warcraft that stand out more than in any other game in the genre, and that’s the various specializations of each class.

Copyright Endgadget

That’s my specialization, the Demonology Warlock.  It defines everything about how I play, and it’s almost an entirely different class from my other specialization, the Destruction Warlock.  Stats, spells, demons and even the basic approach to combat is completely different from the two other specializations, making my character feel completely unique.  It’s a different approach to building characters, and classes, because it makes everything different.

In most RPGs, class determines everything about a character, from better or worse, and this is definitely true for World of Warcraft.  If there is a specialization in another game, it only changes a few things or alters how a few spells of abilities are used, but in WoW, it completely defines who you are and what you do, making class more of a theme  on an idea, which is actually really cool.  It allows the developers to play around with the classes and find ways to make sure each player has their own cool toys, and to allow each fight to be played a little bit differently.  It also allows the players to be unique, which is important in a multiplayer game, since every player needs their own identity in order to not feel faceless while they’re playing.

It is, in fact, one of the reasons I keep playing, even when I don’t actually like how the game is going at the time, since I can play the game differently and try something I didn’t previously see.  Like I said, I’ve been playing for several years, and there are whole classes I haven’t played before, let alone groups of specializations.

What’s interesting is where the impetus for specializations come from.  Since the game requires the Trinity (Tank, DPS and Healer) in order to do anything other than questing, it means that certain classes need to have different approaches to the game.  Early in the game’s life cycle, a lot of specs didn’t do anything, didn’t work, or only existed to add certain bonuses to spells that were basically the signature ability for the class.  However, as they began to add more classes, starting with the Death Knight, Blizzard was sure that each class needed to be different.  They would have four tanks when the Death Knight came out, and they were going to have to make them different from the others, which started to bleed into the other classes.  If the tank specs were going to be different, than it was important they were different from their other specs as well.  This was around the time a lot of the hybrid classes were beginning to see their DPS  and tanking specs become viable, and they had to have their non Healing specs be differentiated from their other ones.

This necessity led to some very interesting classes, since nearly everything began to get overhauled.  Classes got Limit Breaks or their own super powers and they became more than just the black mage who turns into a demon.  Now, the Demonology Warlock is all about summoning demons, rather than just having a few demons show up to supplement the blowing shit up.  Even transforming into a demon turned into something more than a DPS cooldown, it became like its own Limit Break.  It’s totally different from when I switch to Destruction, where I have completely different resources.

Not enough games are willing to experiment with class design.  Classes have to have some rigidity to them, but too many are limited to “well, in D&D, this guy gets a sword, so sword guy is a class now” which is not a good way for video games to develop classes.  They need to have an identity, which is something Blizzard really gets.

Game Anatomy: The Back Dash

I think it’s pretty well established that I like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.  It’s not an exaggeration to say that it’s my favorite game of all time.

Like, that’s some of the best art in gaming right there

The thing about Symphony of the Night is that, when it’s discussed, it’s just sort of described as this nebulous “good,” mostly because that’s a pretty good way to describe it.  There’s so little to actually criticize, that it’s kind of hard to discuss what’s good about it.  It also managed to kind of half create the Metroidvania platformer subgenre by refining a lot of the good ideas from Super Metroid (the number of words in that last clause that are red underlined…) while also making the map a little bit more accessible, if a little less complex.  However, I feel like this is something of a disservice, because there are a lot of things that Symphony of the Night does so well, and one of them is the game’s first real defensive maneuver: the back dash.

One of the many comparisons people make today in gaming is Castlevania to Dark Souls, which is something I’ve done myself, and while I think that’s a broadly true statement, there is one big thing that Dark Souls has that the old school Castlevanias don’t, and that’s defense.  Dark Souls is really big on defense, but Castlevania’s only defensive move is to get out of the way.  In a lot of the ways, Simon and Trevor are relentless in their offense, but Alucard does something different, and that’s slide out of the way.

At first, it seems kind of useless, and even later in the game, once the player gets a handle on how it works, it does kind of seem situational, especially in normal combat.  It’s fast, yes, but it’s also a bit awkward to use.  It’s on the Triangle button (or Y if you’re playing it on the X-Box), which is a weird place for a dodge button, and, like I said before, dodging isn’t really a Castlevania thing.  At least, dodging in something that is different from jumping out of the way.  It’s a weird thing.  However, after a little bit, and the player gets a good handle on what the back dash can do, it’s extremely powerful, and is kind of the linchpin on which a lot of the boss battles are based.

Sure, you can get through a lot of the game without bothering to back dash, but it also means the game is a lot harder.  The game adds a lot of thrusts and stabs that have a kind of awkward range, just slightly too long to really get out of the way, but is the perfect distance for a double back dash.  These attacks often have enough of a warm up to see and allow Alucard to get out of the way, and there’s enough of a delay between them that Alucard can close the distance and get in enough damage to either seriously hurt them, or, in the case of a normal enemy outright kill them.

Most enemy animations are actually based around this kind of movement, or, at least a lot of the new ones that were created for this game.  There are a lot of enemies that have their classic attack patterns, which don’t take the back dash, or any of Alucard’s enhanced movement abilities, into account, but for pretty much every boss (except God damn Beelzebub) and most of the new monsters, all of their animations, attacks and movements are created around this movement and what it does is create a much more dynamic combat system, which the rest of the 2D Castlevania games follow.  Even Harmony of Dissonance, which also tries to add a Mega Man X style forward dash, but that was a bad idea, since the dashes are meant to be defensive, not a travel option.

The back dash looks really cool, and it does something else that’s really important.  It plays up just how powerful and supernatural Alucard is.  Alucard moves better than any Castlevania protagonist, except possibly Soma (and, well, there’s a reason for that), and the back dash is the first example that he’s faster and more agile than any Belmont.  Sure, the Jump Stone and Gravity Boots will eventually expand on this, but there’s a reason you don’t start with those.  The game wants to show just how bad ass Alucard is if he can dodge a sword strike like it’s just no thing, cape fluttering behind him, just like in one of my Japanese animes (sorry.  I may have been playing Metal Gear again).  Alucard can’t have everything at the beginning, since the game is built on RPG mechanics (I can see why some people might dislike this, however, and I can kind of agree with them), but the game does need something to show just how fast and crazy his movements are right at the beginning, especially since the game is sort of based around it.

There are a lot of reasons why this game works so well, but I’ve always felt the back dash was sort of the unsung hero of it.  It’s not the most important element, but it is pretty close, and it’s filtered all throughout the game.  Kind of like how the entire castle is designed so you can walk on the floor and the ceiling, and it’s a different, but similar experience.  What I’m getting at, I think, is that Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a very, very smart game.